Cal Worthington, car dealer famed for TV ads, dies

LOS ANGELES -- Cal Worthington, who built a fortune from a series of West Coast car dealerships and became a TV fixture thanks to commercials urging customers to "go see Cal," has died. He was 92.

Dave Karalis, general manager of Cal Worthington Ford in Long Beach, says Worthington died Sunday after watching football with family at his Big W Ranch in Orland, Calif., north of Sacramento. No cause of death was released.

The Oklahoma native founded his first dealership in the late 1940s in Southern California.

As his business empire grew to other western states and Alaska, Worthington starred in a series of TV and radio spots.

The ads featured his "dog" Spot, with animals ranging from tigers to elephants.